Immaculate Conception?

[gjbarord]

Good Morning Everyone,

Not sure if there is anyone from New England Aquarium on this website...

While I was in Australia I received an email from the New England Aquarium asking about food items to offer hatchling nautilus. Exciting news! They were able to get the first hatchling to start eating and then had a second hatchling a few days later. The interesting part is that the hatchlings just showed up in the tank one morning. Nautilus eggs are so well camouflaged that they can be overlooked, especially when you are not actively trying to breed them.

Right now I am on a bus to Boston to check them out and get some more details.

I have so many questions so I hope they are ready. More soon!

Greg

 

[cuttlegirl]

Has the New England Aquarium been in touch with the Waikiki Aquarium? Also Marj Awai (I think she is at the Aulani Resort in Hawaii) has experience since she was at the Waikiki Aquarium when they hatched.

 

[Thales]

Has the New England Aquarium been in touch with the Waikiki Aquarium? Also Marj Awai (I think she is at the Aulani Resort in Hawaii) has experience since she was at the Waikiki Aquarium when they hatched.

They have been in touch with Waikiki, and I pretty sure that they have also been in touch wiht Marj.

 

[DWhatley]

Were the hatchlings in a tank that held nauts at one time or did they just come in as part of some live rock or substrate moved between tanks at some point? Somewhere I read that the first accounts of aquarium hatchlings were from eggs over a year old, thought to be dead (If I remember right these were in the aquarium in Hawaii)

 

[cuttlegirl]

The ones from Waikiki were not thought to be dead, they were just in the back in a holding tank. The professor I worked with was studying their development so the Waikiki Aquarium would place any eggs laid in a holding tank.

 

[gjbarord]

CG, who did you work with there?

D, the hatchlings at New England Aquarium were in the nautilus system which has not been there for years.

Greg

 

[cuttlegirl]

CG, who did you work with there?

D, the hatchlings at New England Aquarium were in the nautilus system which has not been there for years.

Greg

Hi Greg,

I worked with Dr. John M. Arnold. He died in 2004. I got to open up a few Nautilus eggs to observe their development.

 

[cuttlegirl]

CG, who did you work with there?

D, the hatchlings at New England Aquarium were in the nautilus system which has not been there for years.

Greg

Years??? How many years? What was the water temperature? What else was in the system? So many questions... I want to visit the NEA!!!!

 

[DWhatley]

CG,
I can't find the article I read (several years ago) and I would swear the eggs hatched after something like 4 years (I am sure it was well beyond the 1 year considered normal) and had been forgotten but it has been a long time since I read the article and I don't seem to have marked it, I'll look some more after I look up squid eggs . I do remember the animals did not survive long after hatching.

 

[cuttlegirl]

The eggs from Waikiki were tagged when they were removed from the exhibit tank with a date - it was about a year. I can't remember how long the hatchlings lived but I think it was under 2 months. There was an article but I can't find it either!!!

Page 42 on this issue of Drum and Croaker
http://www.columbuszoo.org/drumcroaker/pdf/2006.pdf
and the original article from Waikiki (I don't have access to ReefBase)
http://www.reefbase.org/pacific/pub_A0000001959.aspx

 

[gjbarord]

What a treat to work with John Arnold!! I had so many questions about the nautilus tank too but not too many answered yet... I'll hopefully know more soon! Better to be lucky than good sometimes.

Greg

 

[cuttlegirl]

What a treat to work with John Arnold!!

Greg

He was an interesting man.

 

[Tintenfisch]

Wow, cool. So the NEAq currently has a GPO and some Nautilus hatchlings... do they still have cuttlefish? I think they did in April when I was last there. Never had Nauts while I was working there, though (1998-2001). Too bad! Keep us posted

 

[gjbarord]

I think they had cuttlefish, no I know they had cuttlefish as well. They had some cuttlefish starting to hatch as well. Cephs doing good all around there!

Greg